Box Score To the naked eye, a basketball court is flat.
Any basketball fan who has watched the Michigan Tech women's basketball team knows better.
Tech, ranked fifth in the country, knows how to make the hardwood tilt uphill. The Huskies have perfected the art of getting a lead, then turning the game over to a defense that's second to none in these parts. That's the formula they used Sunday (Mar. 6) to stop Ashland, 63-53 in the GLIAC Tournament title game.
It took that kind of effort to derail an AU team that is 19-10 and had won four consecutive games entering Sunday's fray. For the past two weeks the Eagles had knocked off all comers with a potent potion of defense, rebounding and an inside combo of forwards Daiva Gerbec (Dublin, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) and Liz Tyler (Monroeville, Ohio).
That same game plan caught the attention of the Huskies (26-2) on Sunday. While Tech got the early lead and managed to maintain a lead of 10 to 13 points for much of the game, it could never put the Eagles away for good until the final whistle. The Eagles, with an eight-player rotation, played Tech as well any team could have.
In the end, however, Tech's defense and tandem of senior forward Lucy Dernovsek and senior center Lisa Staehlin won out. Tech, as the top-ranked team in the region, will host the upcoming NCAA Midwest Tournament. AU hopes to get an at-large bid to that event. That announcement will come Sunday night.
This was MTU's second straight GLIAC Tournament title and the school's third in the last four years. This was the fourth straight year Tech hosted the tourney. The Huskies have a 13-game winning streak.
Throughout their winning streak, the Eagles had been able to force teams to play from behind. That didn't happen in the title game. AU's last lead came with 10:23 left in the first half when senior guard Rachel Poorman (Zanesville, Ohio/Maysville) hit a jumper for a 10-8 lead. At the 9:48 mark of the first half, Dernovsek, the tournament's most valuable player, drilled a three-pointer for an 11-10 MTU advantage. The home team never gave up the lead after that.
The Eagles kept pushing the Huskies, even though they were not having much luck offensively. Ashland shot 28.6 percent (8-of-28) in the first half. The Eagles trailed at the break, 30-16. Two players – Gerbec and Tyler – accounted for 12 of those first-half points. Gerbec had eight points at halftime and Tyler had four.
Even with those offensive woes, the Eagles stayed in the game. In fact, if not for a late flurry by MTU in the first half, the teams would have ended the first 20 minutes much closer. In the final 4:44 of the half, AU was outscored, 9-2. That turned a close game into a double-digit lead for the Huskies.
AU, however, was unable to get control of several critical areas of the game. Very few teams have pushed around the Eagles on the boards this season but Tech was able to dominate that area. MTU outrebounded the Eagles, 47-31. Tech had 21 offensive rebounds and that led to the Huskies dominating in second chance points, 17-4.
The Eagles also couldn't mount a consistent scoring threat from the perimeter. AU didn't knock down a three-point field goal until Tyler connected with 2:53 remaining in the game. AU was 1-for-7 from three-point range.
In the opening minutes of the second half, the Eagles did put the Huskies back on their heels. AU came out swinging and went on a 6-2 run to cut the MTU lead to 32-24 with 17:09 to play. The Huskies scored the game's next seven points and had a 39-24 lead with 15:31 to go. Ashland got that lead down to eight points, 39-31 with 10:51 left in the game, but could get no closer. Mounting a comeback against Tech is extremely difficult, the Huskies lead the GLIAC in scoring defense (53.5 ppg.) and field goal percentage defense (36.1).
Give the Eagles this, they scored 37 points in the second half and shot 51.9 percent (14-of-27) from the floor in the last 20 minutes. Gerbec finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and tied her career high in blocked shots (four). She was named to the all-tournament team. Tyler had 19 points, four rebounds and a pair of steals. Freshman point guard Alyssa Miller (Zanesville, Ohio/Tri-Valley) played 38 minutes against the league's best defense and had seven assists and one turnover.
The 5-11 Dernovsek finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds and the 6-2 Staehlin had 16 points and rejected four shots. Staehlin was 6-of-9 shooting from the floor and scored 12 second-half points. Guard Sam Hoyt had 15 points and five rebounds. Dernovsek had four triples and Hoyt had a trio of three-pointers.
AU
WBB/ALK
